


XCOM: From The Ashes of Temples

by Phalanx



Category: XCOM, XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-03-04 02:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2906522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phalanx/pseuds/Phalanx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>XCOM is on the verge of collapse after a devastating alien attack at the heart of its operation robs it of its leadership and core operatives. As survivors struggle to rebuild, they discover a missing weapons convoy in France and the attack on HQ are connected in a way no one imagined; the enemy is within humanity itself. EW storyline-based, plus Long War elements.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains storyline spoilers for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Enemy Within, Operation Slingshot, and Operation Progeny. It was also formerly known under the name of XCOM: The Ones Left Behind.

 

 

* * *

**Chapter One: The Ones Left Behind**

* * *

 

_"And how can man die better_  
 _Than facing fearful odds,_  
 _For the ashes of his fathers,_  
 _And the temples of his Gods."_

_\- Horatius, Lays of Ancient Rome_

 

 

_One month._

That was all it had taken to bring the XCOM Project to its knees. Just one month ago, XCOM had been spearheading the resistance efforts agaiChapter One: The Ones Left Behindnst the alien invasion of Earth. While every other military force in the world struggled and were curb-stomped by the might of the invaders, XCOM had been the only ones holding their ground and making progress.

It had all been in no small part thanks to their strategy of aggressively reverse-engineering alien technology for human use. They'd been successfully driving back the aliens whenever they'd encountered them, even managing to capture some of the enemy troops and resources. Slowly and surely, they'd been taking the invaders' own weapons and turning them against their owners, thus evening out the playing field.

Or so they had thought. But they'd thought wrong, and nothing seemed more clear on that point as Central Officer Bradford stood in the situation room of XCOM headquarters, and broke the bad news to the leader of the shadowy Council of Nations that backed the project.

"The attack on XCOM Headquarters happened without warning or precedent. Our troops repelled the alien forces and HQ is now secure, but our losses were heavy and The Commander... The Commander is dead, sir."

XCOM headquarters had previously been considered one of the most secret and secure locations left on Earth. That the aliens knew where to strike and just how sudden their blow had been... no one had thought that possible. Yet, it had happened— their impregnable stronghold had been breached and their leader killed. But even with a bombshell of such magnitude, Bradford noticed that the Council Spokesperson still retained his composure and displayed no emotion.

"I see, " the shadowy silhouette said at last. " This is a very great setback indeed. We must be frank, Officer Bradford: this incident will shake the faith of many of the Council members in the XCOM Project. The loss of The Commander's leadership is of particular concern and will need to be addressed."

Bradford kept his face neutral as he was put on hold so the Council could deliberate. Behind him he could hear the hushed whispers of the two advisors standing in the room.

_"... do you think they will shut us down?"_

_"They can't. Not at this stage. Not with all that we have accomplished..."_

The video returned shortly. "Officer Bradford , this Council has come to a decision. While the implications of the security breach are grave, we do recognise that XCOM ultimately dealt with the immediate threat, and is still in a position to act against the alien invasion. With this in mind, the Council has agreed to continue with the project, with some changes."

Behind him, the two advisors exhaled in relief. Bradford however, had tensed up. He had a good idea of what was coming up next.

"With The Commander no longer available, it is vital that a suitable replacement be immediately appointed to lead the XCOM initiative. While there has been some reservation from some quarters due to the previous results of Operation Devil's Moon, this Council has agreed to reappoint you, Central Officer Bradford... as the new commander of XCOM."

Bradford nodded and said the requisite words of thanks and acceptance. He had no choice, because everyone left in the project all knew it was too late to find a replacement with enough experience at this point of the invasion. As the former Commander's XO, and if he didn't step up to the task, the XCOM Project was as good as over.

"Excellent. We trust that your leadership will have a better outcome this time... Commander." The screen blinked out. The moment after it did, Bradford let his shoulders sag. With good reason, the weight of the world had just been placed on them.

"I guess congratulations on your promotion are not in order, Commander Bradford?" Dr Raymond Shen, now one of his two advisors, spoke up. The old man looked sympathetically at the former central officer. He had been there when Bradford had failed spectacularly at his first mission as the Commander of XCOM months ago, and had witnessed Bradford's entire fall from grace. Almost losing the entire ground team, letting the first aliens they had encountered escape... Under his command, Operation Devil's Moon had been a disaster, and had nearly resulted in the XCOM Project being shut down in its infancy.

Bradford had been swiftly demoted to Central Officer and replaced with the one who had been their late commander. He'd taken it in his stride, and had worked very hard for, and very well with the new commander to turn the project around, and it had been all on track until The Commander's unexpected demise. To be given a second chance at leadership because of the death of his commanding officer was really more akin to a slap in the face than a chance at gaining redemption.

"Thank you, Doctor," Bradford replied dully. "I don't think there will be any need for celebrations," he added, his attempt at humour sounding flat even to his own ears.

"Commander ... Bradford." Dr Vahlen, the head of science, tried unsuccessfully to leave out the second part of the name and failed. In XCOM HQ, there was only one person whom everyone referred to as "The Commander", and that person was currently lying in the morgue, along with the rest of their veteran soldiers and the security personnel who had fallen defending the base.

"Commander Bradford, I know this must seem like a bad time to bring this matter up, but before our systems were sabotaged, the Hyperwave Uplink project was about to be launched. As Dr Shen's team has since successfully restored the power, it is of great importance that we proceed with the activation, with your permission, of course."

She was right on both counts. It was a bad time to bring the issue up, and the launching of the Hyperwave Uplink had been of vital importance to The Commander's plan to end the invasion which should proceed regardless. He held back his irritation at her cold single-mindedness and gave his assent, then watched as the doctors filed out to carry out their duties.

Bradford had his own duties to see to, and then the late commander's as well, so he got to it.

First and foremost there was the issue of rebuilding the decimated Strike Team. It was going to be a monumental task. Of all their numerous veterans, they had only one left: their sergeant assault specialist, Kim Chun Hyun, who was currently in the infirmary and would not be fit for duty for at least another week.

He shuffled through the personnel files and paused. Well that was not strictly true. There was technically Delta-2, but there had been a good reason why the only survivor of Operation Devil's Moon been taken off the active roster and reassigned as ground staff. The man had been, to repeat the terms the base psychiatrist, Dr Hendriks had used: "badly compromised in mental stability". Even if he was still technically capable, the Commander had deemed it too risky to continue fielding him, because "One unstable officer with PTSD in the field leads to panicking squaddies, which leads to a dead squad."

That was then, however. But now, with available options stretched to their limit, Bradford briefly wondered if Delta-2 had had enough recovery time for him to risk putting the man back in the field. Maybe. If push came to shove. If he had no other choice.

Just as he was pondering if it was worth paying a visit to the infirmary and the man in question, the klaxons blared.

"Commander to Situation Room!"

The familiar silhouette of the council Spokesman appeared on the screen again. "Hello, Commander," he said, in a tone that sounded as though if they hadn't just spoken hours ago. Bradford nodded as the Council spoke of a hijack attempt on a military convoy in France. He didn't really react until a certain sentence jumped out at him from the brief:

"... the alleged perpetrators were  _human_..."

Now that little tidbit of information got Bradford's attention. He glanced over the details that had just been forwarded and frowned. The hijacked French convoy had been carrying a highly valuable weapon. In fact, when he noted what the 'weapon' was, his brow furrowed that much more. Then he understood the Council's eagerness to act on the matter.

''Excellent. We look forward to seeing your progress." The video screen went blank shortly after he communicated the acceptance of the task.

Bradford let out a long sigh. The last time XCOM had had to deal with human traitors, it had been that incident with the Chinese triad informant and the Shenzen Dreadnaught. The death toll in that particular alien attack had been staggering, and the incident would have cost XCOM their support from the Chinese members of the Council if it had not been for The Commander's considerable political clout.

That influence had died with The Commander, and they had no such thing to fall back on now. If they failed again on this Council mission, the stark reality was: there would not even be an XCOM by next month. XCOM could not fail again.

But Bradford's problem still remained: with the end of the attack on the HQ, they had no functioning Strike Team to speak of. Sending a bunch of rookies into a Council mission with barely enough intel and no experienced leader would be simply sending them to the slaughter. There was no way around it, Bradford decided, he'd have to send Delta-2. But one veteran alone wouldn't be enough. They needed more experienced people who knew what it was like to be out there in the field, who could make the right choices without descending into panic.

The subject of human collaborators suddenly reminded Bradford of someone else, someone he had initially dismissed as a candidate. He hesitated, then picked up another file and flipped through the information it contained. Military background, a substantial service record too, but discharged dishonorably due to a certain incident which was probably what had led to the man getting involved with some rather shady activities later in his career...

Bradford looked down at the file in his hand and made up his mind.

The Commander might not have approved of defected triad member Shaojie Zhang as a potential recruit. But right now, the XCOM Project was in dire straits, and beggars couldn't be choosers.

 

* * *

**End Chapter 1**

* * *

_**XCOM Barracks Memorial Wall** _

Commander Liang-Yue 'Big Picture' Hé (Major Trauma, Unknown)  
Colonel Jackson 'Ol' Jack' Spencer (Cyberdisk)  
Major Henry 'Crumpets' Harris (Explosives)  
Captain 'Hail' Mary Harris (Chryssalid)  
Captain Kathleen 'Sitting Duck' Douglas (Chryssalid)  
Lt. Leticia 'Jabs' Vega (Cyberdisk)  
Sergeant. Fatima 'Tanky' Turk (Thin Man Light Plasma Rifle)  
Sergeant Johan "Nukem' Hamdar (Zombie)  
Corporal Jorges Klakov (Sectoid Plasma Pistol)  
Corporal Erin Erikssen (Heavy Laser)  
Corporal Varsha Sharma (Thin Man Light Plasma Rifle)  
Private Matthew Hawkins (MIA)  
Private Iriko Sakamoto (Sectoid Plasma Pistol)


	2. A Portent In Low Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhang goes on his first mission as an XCOM operative. Portent happens.

Corporal Shaojie Zhang sat quietly amongst a hastily assembled squad of XCOM field operatives as the Skyranger made its way westward to France. It was not the first time he'd stepped foot on the supersonic personnel carrier craft. The last time he'd been on board, he'd been dressed in the slick suits favoured by the Hong Kong underworld and he'd been fleeing from the life he had known as a member of the notorious triads. This time, he was dressed in XCOM-issued Carapace armour, and was toting both a heavy laser rifle and a rocket launcher slung over his back.

He fidgeted a little. The silver-blue Carapace armour that he wore supposedly offered protection that was several times stronger than conventional terran armour- the light, overlapping trauma plates had been made out of the aliens' own special alloy, after all. But to Zhang it felt disconcertingly thin and  _comfortable_. From his experience, armour wasn't supposed to be  _this_  comfortable or have such clean lines, nor should combat helmets be made out of clear material that allowed a full field of vision and other people to see their full faces. He had heard rumours that due to fears of infiltration units, The Commander had leaned towards a design that allowed whoever wearing them be easily-identifiable, but to him, the things felt  _flimsy_. As for the heavy laser rifle he carried, the thing was unusually light, the design was compact and boxy, and reminded him a bit too much of the plasticky sci-fi guns one saw in old American space shows. He had no doubt that the bursts of energy the things fired were devastating, but after years of dealing with conventional firearms, the recoil-less light weapons also felt almost like toys. The strandard-issue rocket launcher on his back was most comforting in comparison, in a familiar, no-nonsense kind of way.

Zhang cast another look around the hold of the Skyranger. The other big difference here was that everyone who had been on the Skyranger with him the first time round were now all dead. He'd seen their pictures on the memorial wall. In their place now sat untested recruits who probably hadn't seen much action; Zhang could tell by how loudly the one sitting the middle was trying to convince everyone he knew what he was talking about.

"...I heard that the almost the entire team got killed when Ol' 'Sweaters' was last in command," said the rookie. Even if Zhang hadn't been able to see the patch on his uniform, he would have known what country that one came from.  _Americans_. It was in the way they spoke; their voices tended to project into every corner of the room they were in whether they intended it to or not.

"You mean the Delta Team's first contact mission?" another rookie asked. Despite being a new recruit, Zhang suspected this one was a bit more seasoned. He was a sniper, judging by the long-barreled laser sniper rifle in his hands, and evidently he didn't like the shiny XCOM armour either; he'd taken the liberty of muting its overall look with matte black paint. He did not speak much, but when he did, every word was pronounced slowly and richly, as though he liked to give every syllable its own time to shine.

"Yeah that one. I tell you, with him in command again, we're screwed," replied the loudmouthed American.

"Grow some balls, Guzman," one of the other rookies— British, from her accent— snapped back.

The remaining rookie just watched and listened and said nothing.

Zhang tried his best to ignore the ongoing banter. At any other time he might have frowned upon the idea of such disrespect towards a man who was supposed to be their new supreme commander (mainly because that kind of behavior would have gotten you and everyone associated with you killed very quickly back in the Hong Kong underworld), but at the present, Zhang's own position was too shaky to risk pushing the issue. While he knew he technically held the rank of corporal, he also understood all too well that respect was needed for a chain of command to work. And this respect was currently lacking, thanks to his reputation as an unsavoury criminal. He knew he even looked the part; with the bleached white hair, the sinister scars, the tattoos... if it hadn't been for that particular incident with the alien artifact in Hong Kong, someone like him would have never been allowed to get anywhere near an organisation like XCOM, much less be part of it.

Even if it had not been shown openly, the late Commander had not trusted him at all and Zhang knew it. Of course, Zhang reflected that having been of the same nationality as himself, Commander Liang-Yue Hé did have cultural knowledge the current  _gwailo_  commander wouldn't have, and that knowledge meant being extremely leery of accepting any kind of help from anyone associated with the criminal triads. Anyone who understood the way of life in his home country would probably think it was a prudent decision; normally accepting triad aid in any matter tended to lead to heavy debts later or even worse, violent retribution to save face, and he couldn't blame the former commander for wanting to steer clear of all of that.

It did make his current situation that much more difficult, however. But it would not do to think ill of dead, and Zhang pushed away the dark thoughts of of the past and refocused on the present.

"It's not a matter of balls," Private Guzman was explaining to anyone who would listen. "It's about men with balls being sent to die by a bunch of pencil pushers. Hell, look at what happened to Delta team. Almost all of 'em dead and the last survivor, that Argentinian, so fucked up in the head they had to lock him up somewhere—"

"Don't talk shit when you don't know jack about that," came the quiet warning from the soldier occupying the corner seat.

"What's your problem, pretty boy..." began Guzman, only to trail off when he realised who it was who had spoken. The rookie's gaze moved from the other man's angry glare, to the Argentinian flag sewn to his uniform, and then the patch which denoted the man's rank of sergeant. After that, the young soldier proceeded to shut up very quickly.

Evidently, squad leader Sergeant Valdez did not like people running down his fellow countrymen.

Despite himself Zhang managed a smile. It couldn't be denied the appellation of "pretty boy" fit Sergeant Valdez rather well. With his striking looks and a head of overly long hair that certainly wouldn't have passed regulation in the most military outfits, the sergeant did look far more like a Spanish soap opera actor than he did a soldier. In fact Zhang had been rather surprised to see the man as a field operative when they had filed on into the Skyranger. He had previously encountered him as one of the medics staffing the infirmary. He'd been even more surprised to see the man sport a heavy laser and rocket launcher on this mission. Not the standard choice of weapons for a medic. Zhang noted Sergeant Valdez still equipped himself with a medikit, however.

Perhaps the Sergeant had been a reserve trooper, Zhang mused, which meant that him being deployed, together with Zhang himself, indicated XCOM was on reserves... not a reassuring thought.

* * *

"Big Sky to Strike Team, we're setting down near the mission site," the Skyranger pilot announced as the troop transport performed a flawless vertical landing.

The ramp of the Skyranger lowered and the squad moved out of the craft. It was just twilight, and they could see that they were in what was left of a city block. It looked like a war had raged there, the nearest building had been riddled with gaping holes and the bricks that had made up the walls lay around scattered in piles. Small fires still burned from what looked to be hulks of military vehicles, the light from the flames throwing the sinister silhouettes of adjacent corpses in sharp relief.

The voice of Commander 'Central' Bradford filtered over the comm. "There's been widespread speculation about this ambush on a French military convoy." He began briefing them about how there hadn't been much information available about the incident, other than indications of alien presence, and possible human involvement.

"So a site recon, then, Central?" Sergeant Valdez responded matter-of-factly before shifting into squad leader mode. "Roger that. Strike-1 moving out. Privates Murray and Guzman, your callsigns are Strikes-2 and 3, and you guys are with me. Kotsi and Jaitely, you're Strikes-5 and 6, and you follow Strike-4: that's Corporal Zhang. I want you guys to take the roof. We'll sweep the building inside. Call out contacts as you see them."

Well, at least Sergeant Valdez seemed to know what he was doing.

It was not all ideal, however. While Zhang considered himself a modern-thinking Chinese, he still wasn't too thrilled about being assigned as 'Strike-4'. In his native tongue, the word 'Four' shared the exact same sound as the word for 'death'— not a very auspicious designation to be given for an occupation where death came all too easily.

But no time to be picky over minor things, so Zhang motioned for Strike-5 and Strike-6 to follow him. He noticed a smirking Private Guzman run his mouth to the other two operatives as they moved out, however.

"So he stuck you guys with the Chinese gangster." The loudmouthed rookie was promptly reprimanded by the squad leader with a command to shut up and follow his lead.

'The Chinese gangster' pushed the unpleasant remark out of his mind and focused on his mission. A dubious-looking drainpipe at the corner of the building proved sturdy enough for his team to clamber up, even if the weight of the heavy laser and rocket launcher strapped to his back sorely tested it. Once they got to the top however, they found they had an excellent view of the surrounding area.

It was not a pleasant view. The scene that was visible from the high ground was one of devastation and desolation. Everywhere they looked, they could see more human corpses strewn across the ruins.

Private Kotsi fingered his laser sniper rifle and muttered what sounded like an oath to some deity Zhang didn't know. "What happened to bring such destruction to this place?" he said as he set up the long-range weapon. A crackle over the comm interrupted him.

"Central, we got more bodies in the buildings. There's something real odd about these corpses." Sergeant Valdez's voice sounded troubled. "At first I thought they were civvies who got caught in the crossfire, but then I noticed they're wearing scarves over their faces, and they've got heavy weapons strapped to them. Then I noticed that the french soldiers who were killed don't seem to have been shot by plasma weapons at all."

"I agree, Strike One. These men were killed by conventional bullets." Zhang noted that Central didn't sound surprised when he replied. An uneasy feeling was beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. They were in the middle of a war, and here was another case of humans killing other humans. It reminded him too much of the war-profiteering he had nearly gotten embroiled in prior to his defection.

"Contact!" came a sudden shout from Kotsi. This was followed by a hiss from a laser sniper rifle as the marksman opened fire without hesitation. Zhang turned to see a humanoid figure tumble off the rooftop of the building opposite theirs. Any initial worry about Kotsi having shot another human was negated by the cloud of sickly green mist that had spewed out from the corpse.

"Strike-4 to Strike-1, we have those thin aliens in the area!" Zhang immediately radioed in. "Strike-5 has dispatched the target."

"The infamous Thin Men. At first I thought they were human, but then I recognised them from the training vids," replied Kotsi, his voice even. "I do not see any more on that building."

"Don't relax just yet. Thin Men come in groups. Keep an eye out and your guns at ready. Kill them before they ever get a chance to shoot at you." Sergeant Valdez's voice had taken on an urgent undertone. "Under no circumstances should you engage in a firefight with Thin Men unless you have full cover and they don't. Strike-4, use your rocket launcher if you see any opportunity to."

"Isn't that a bit excessive, Sergeant?" The voice of Private Murray sounded a little incredulous.

"No," Zhang found himself agreeing with Valdez. The Sergeant clearly spoke from prior experience and Zhang himself remembered too well desperately hunkering behind a gravestone in Hong Kong as frighteningly-accurate plasma fire rained down at his position. In fact, the late Major Harris had endorsed the exact same approach for dealing with Thin Men back in that Hong Kong graveyard. Zhang recalled some rather memorable words from the Englishman during his extraction mission, something along the lines of: "To bloody hell with what Dr Vahlen wants,  _rocket those skinny bastards!_ "

That Zhang and his entire extraction team had survived the mission spoke well of the efficiency of Major Harris' approach. In fact, after thinking about it, Zhang resolved to adopt the same philosophy as well.

He got the chance to test his resolution out soon enough. Despite Sergeant Valdez's warning, the Strike Team found themselves thrown into a firefight with several more Thin Men barely minutes later. The patrol of the human-like aliens, dressed in black suits and shades, attempted to pin them down with suppression fire while another tried to flank Valdez's fire-team.

Zhang solved the problem of the suppressing team with a well-placed rocket, while Private Kotsi presented himself as a prime candidate for a promotion as he picked off the would-be flanker with a steady, calculated headshot. Much to everyone's surprise, Guzman nabbed the last Thin Man kill by emptying his rifle at the stack of cardboard boxes the remaining retreating alien tried to hide behind. Not a wise decision on its part, since the boxes didn't offer much in the way of stopping laser fire.

Guzman crowed quite a bit about it too, but no one begrudged him his kill.

Sergeant Valdez was all business. "Everyone good? Reload and we'll proceed with the sweep. Strike-5, can you cover our advance from the roof?"

Kotsi spoke up. "This roof is a perfect sniper's perch. I can set up here and cover both teams for a long way."

"Good," approved Sgt. Valdez. "That frees up Strikes-4 and 6 to sweep the other side of the building."

Clambering down from the roof took less effort: a fire escape provided access to the ground level. Private Jaitely, who was not much of a talker, took point, alertly scanning for movement. He was also the first to notice the survivor.

Zhang caught his hand signal and proceeded forward cautiously. The corporal got a good look at the man soon enough— European, upper class, clearly wounded and crouching next to some wrecked cars.

Perhaps it took one to recognise another, but Zhang's time in the triad had ingrained him with the ability to differentiate between civilians and soldiers in civilian clothes. It had to do with the way they carried themselves. He had a gut feeling in this case as well. The man looked like a civilian, and was dressed like an office worker, but he was not just some office worker caught in the crossfire. Zhang spotted a discarded scarf lying at the man's feet, and a wary thought immediate crossed his mind:

_Who covers their face unless they were planning to do something illicit?_

Central must have been thinking the same thing as well, because he spoke up before Zhang could voice his suspicions.

"It's likely that man was one of the aggressors in this mess, Strike Team. He may be the only one who knows what happened to the convoy. Get him back to the Skyranger ASAP, whether he likes it or not."

The survivor did not. In fact his first words in response to theirs were: "You're wasting your time, you might as well leave me here." He did not even look at them in the face, and continued looking at a crushed syringe he held before Jaitely disarmed him of it and hauled him to his feet.

"I have nothing to say to you people," was the only other words they managed to get out of him.

Since Jaitely generally didn't have much to say either, it was a very silent group that forcibly marched the survivor back the way they came.

''Strike-1 to Strike-4, we're coming to help escort. What is your location?"

Zhang was about to respond to the squad leader when there were several cries over the line, followed by an earth-shuddering boom as the contrail of a rocket-propelled grenade streaked in the distance. Both he and Jaitely turned to see a gout of flame spew from the opposite side of the building. Clouds of green mist hung in the air.

"Thin men pacified," Strike-1 reported. Sergeant Valdez was clearly a member of the 'shoot first with a rocket' club. "Heads up, there's more!"

"Strike-4, you've got a wave of hostiles inbound on your position," came a belated warning from Central. "Get to cover and keep the VIP safe!"

Zhang caught movement from the corner of his eye as he dragged the VIP to the cover of the nearby ruined building. Jaitely dived into cover right behind him as bolts of green plasma rained down from above. The sound of high-tech weaponry firing cut through the air and the comm line filled with profanity uttered in at least three different languages as the recon site became an all-out battlefield.

"We're pinned down!" Zhang called out, laying out suppressing fire in the hopes it would keep the alien from getting a good shot at them. "Thin men on roof!"

There was the hiss of laser fire. Then Kotsi replied calmly: "Thin Men off roof."

"Hang on in there, Strike-4," Corporal Valdez's voice came over the line. ''Just one more bastard on this side keeping us busy. Once we're done we'll— Strike-3, pull back! Pull back!"

"I got him, Sarge! I got him—"

Guzman's voice cut off mid-sentence, followed by a string of colourful curses from Sergeant Valdez.

"Strike-3 is KIA. Strike-2, we need a grenade on that X-ray. Go!"

The situation was getting grim. Their squad had lost a member, and there just seemed to be no end to the waves of Thin Men. Unable to move out of cover, Zhang kept low and defended their position the best he could. Jaitely tried to help cover their rear with his laser pistol, as the assault specialist's scatter laser was no good for long range firefights. But try as they might, it was hard to score a hit on the incredibly agile Thin Men. Neither of them were fortunate to score kills on the skulking aliens.

At the back of his mind Zhang couldn't help remembering they were trapped in the middle of the exact kind of firefights Sergeant Valdez had just warned them against. As it turned out, Sergeant Valdez was right and the fight promptly took a turn for the worse.

"Strike-5, those aliens can jump buildings— one's coming in right on top of your position!" Central's voice was frantic as he called out the warning. A fraction of a second later, there was the hiss of a laser sniper rifle, then a scream of agony filled the comm.

"Strike-5, your cam is out. What's your status?"

"Killed it point-blank," gasped Kotsi after an interval of coughing. "But that poison alien shit got into my eyes. My eyes, I can't see! Can't breathe..." the sniper's voice trailed off into another series of choking noises just as Strike-2 reported a successful grenade kill and their zone clear.

"Your people are not doing too well against the aliens, are they?" the survivor suddenly spoke up. There was an insolent tone to his voice that made Zhang dearly want to hit the man, which was something he would have done without thinking back when he was with the Triad, if just to wipe the smirk off his face.

"Quiet."

"This is pointless. What are you military puppets trying to prove?"

_Deep breaths,_  Zhang told himself.  _Ignore those taunts._

Out of rockets, but the situation was still manageable. Once Team Strike-1 got here to relieve them, they could move on back to the Skyranger. They just had to keep those aliens down and stay alive.

That plan went to hell when the shell of a building they were taking cover in suddenly shuddered violently. The thundering blast of an explosion nearby drowned out Central's cry of dismay over the comm.

"Central, what happened?"

Central did not answer.

"Strike-1, report! Strike-1, report! Strike-2, do you copy?"

No response.

"Damnit," Central swore. "Strikes 4 and 6, get back to the EVAC point ASAP. We've lost contact with the rest of the team."

With a sinking feeling Zhang realized that he, Jaitely and their unwilling follower, were now on their own in the middle of a very hostile battlefield.

The survivor knew it too, and gave an almost deranged laugh.

"I told you... you should have left me back there. We are all going to die." His lips pursed in a humourless smile. "We are all going to die here."

* * *

**End of Chapter Two**

* * *

_**SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL** _

_(Excerpt from the personal log of Commander Liang-Yue Hé)_

_**First sighting of alien type: Thin Men** _

_The aliens have infiltrator units now. We had our first sighting of them today _ _when the Council sent us to extract _ _UN General Peter Van Doorn from an alien attack on a crowded highway_____.

_The sectoids were bad enough, but they were minor grunts compared to these new ones. Cpl. Sharma was killed instantly behind full cover from a shot made at long distance, while Cpl. Douglas and Lt. Mary Harris were severely injured by some sort of corrosive poison mist these things spit. Dr Yi says both of them will recover, and apparently, Cpt. Henry Harris has dubbed the new arrivals 'Thin Men'._

_Good Ol' Jack volunteered to write the letter to Sharma's family, but I told him that was my job, and he could add her name to the memorial wall instead._

_I spent the rest of the mission post-mortem reviewing the squad's personal cam footage, trying to figure out what went wrong. The worst thing about these new aliens is that they look almost human. They wear human clothing, walk like humans and though they are too tall and the proportions are all wrong, there is enough resemblance there to make the men hesitate before opening fire._ _I think that is how we lost Cpl. Sharma. She hesitated. She hesitated because I failed to anticipate the aliens would send infiltrators and condition the troops for this possibility._

_I must find a way to make sure this does not happen again._

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sergeant Valdez has both 'Field Medic' and 'Fire Rocket' skills because of the wonderful Second Wave Option that is 'Training Roulette'.
> 
> I had a lot of fun sneaking gameplay inside jokes in this chapter. I mean, who hasn't itched to say something similar about Dr Vahlen's complaints on the troops being too rocket-happy with Thin Men? Don't know about you, but I found in the first few months of Impossible difficulty, rockets were definitely justified.


	3. Ain't No Calvary Comin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Sgt. Valdez and the conclusion of Portent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT START]
> 
> The following is the official record of Cdr. Liang-Yue Hé's post-mortem report to Council Spokesperson [REDACTED]
> 
> After Action Report:
> 
> OPERATION DEVIL'S MOON  
> FRANKFURT, GERMANY
> 
> Personnel Deployed in Mission:
> 
> Delta Squad
> 
> Delta-1: Corporal Jorges Klakov (KIA)  
> Delta-2: Private Hector Valdez (Incapacitated)  
> Delta-3: Private Matthew Hawkins (MIA)  
> Delta-4: Private Iriko Sakamoto (KIA)
> 
> Foxtrot Squad
> 
> Foxtrot-1: Corporal Leticia Vega  
> Foxtrot-2: Private Kim Chun Hyun  
> Foxtrot-3: Private Johan Hamdar  
> Foxtrot-4: Private Erin Erikssen
> 
> Assessment:
> 
> While Cdr. Bradford initially advocated caution in his directives in the beginning, Delta Squad was distracted by the SOS from one of the German recon team. On locating the building where the signal was coming from, the team failed to observe proper caution when entering the structure. This was also not corrected by the commanding officer, and as a result none of the recon team initiated overwatch while overextending their formation at the same time.
> 
> The first casualties of Delta Squad could have been avoided. The survivor from the German recon team was clearly armed, and the order should not have been given by Cdr. Bradford for Delta-3 to disarm him until Deltas 1, 2, 4 were ready and in position to react.
> 
> As it was, the compromised German soldier shot Delta-3 at point blank range without warning and would have followed with a grenade if Delta-4 had not opened fire and downed the man.
> 
> The gunfire triggered the aliens lying in ambush. Delta-1's lack of overwatch allowed him to be flanked and subsequently killed before he could react.
> 
> Delta-4 was then suppressed by another attacker but the hostile was killed by Delta-2. Delta-1's alien was killed by Delta-4's grenade.
> 
> A third ambusher appeared then, and fatally shot Delta-4 in the back before Delta-2 opened fire and killed the creature.
> 
> Delta-2 then reported the situation as clear. However, Delta-2's initial assessment of the situation proved inaccurate:
> 
> DELTA-2  
> Central, I think that's it. It's over... wait, what the hell was that?
> 
> 5 seconds after his last transmission, contact was then lost between the last member of Delta Team and Central.
> 
> By the time reserve team Foxtrot arrived at scene approximately 4 minutes later, the area was found to be devoid of any remaining alien lifeforms. Delta-2 was found wandering at the perimeter of the AO, in a state of severe disorientation. The medical report indicates no physical injury, but a neural scan showed unusual readings. Delta-2 retained no memory of what occurred during the 4 minutes it took for Foxtrot to reach the AO.
> 
> While the corpses of Delta-1 and 4 were recovered, the body of Delta-3 was missing from the location it was last seen and has yet to be located.
> 
> (Addendum from Cdr. Hé, 23rd April)
> 
> After the incidents in Frankfurt and Newfoundland where the area of operation later had to be purged due to an infestation of creatures we now know as Chryssalids, it is theorized that Delta-3's corpse might have ended up as one of the mobile incubators, thus explaining the disappearance.
> 
> Conclusion:
> 
> Court-martialing Cdr. Bradford as is the Council's initial suggestion is not recommended. Despite his performance on the Devil's Moon mission, some part of the disaster was also due to the unprecedented circumstances and lack of intelligence beforehand. Such an action would also negatively impact troop morale. Bradford could still be an asset if reassigned elsewhere in the organisation.
> 
> I would however, recommend appointing a veteran field commander in his place for ground operations. Ideal candidates for this post would be Col. Jackson Spencer of [REDACTED], or Col. Bengu Sesay, who is currently serving under the UN.
> 
> [END OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT]

 

 

_**XCOM HQ** _

_**7 hours ago...** _

* * *

Normally, having an almost empty infirmary was a good thing if that infirmary belonged to a military organisation. Unless of course, the reason that infirmary was empty was because the morgue was full, which was unfortunately the case with the infirmary of XCOM headquarters.

Dr Hector Valdez tried not to think too hard about it as he made his rounds. Morale at XCOM was at an all time low as it was. He was just glad he'd been assigned to tend to the living, even if part of him still felt ashamed for being glad over anything at all.

"How are we feeling today?"

His current patient, Sergeant Kim Chun Hyun, looked up from the tablet she had been busy surfing on. She clumsily placed it to the side of her sickbed, as her dominant arm was still encased in a sling.

The Korean assault specialist tried to speak and hesitated, before mumbling something that sounded like "better." She said nothing else but continued fidgeting, clearly at a loss for what else to say. Dr Valdez smiled patiently at the awkward soldier and was rewarded with a shy smile from his patient in return. That was a good thing, because Hyun didn't smile or talk much nowadays. Not since the recent invasion of the base, anyway. He couldn't blame her, all things considered. She'd been the only survivor of the nearly-overrun Delta section.

_Delta again_. If there ever was a cursed designation in XCOM, that was it.

He paused as he noticed Hyun's smile suddenly turn into an expression of surprise. Her good hand shot to her forehead in a salute, despite being bedridden. Dr Valdez swiveled around and saw the last person he'd expected to see in the infirmary.

"Central Officer— ah, Commander Bradford!" Valdez blurted, before correcting himself.

"At ease, Sergeant Kim. Sergeant Valdez, I'd like to have a word in private...?"

Valdez started. He hadn't been referred to by his military rank for a while now. Not since he'd transitioned out from the strike team...

Then it sank in. The empty infirmary. The overflowing morgue. There could only be one reason for this sudden visit from the new Commander. As Bradford began talking and got right to the point, his suspicion was confirmed.

"You want me back in the field, sir?" Valdez repeated slowly. The spectres that he thought he had overcome came back in full force.

"I wouldn't ask you if I didn't. Think you're up for it?"

One part of his mind was screaming at him to refuse.  _He's only asking you out of desperation_ , Valdez realised.  _He's only asking you to come back as a field operative because everyone from the old guard is dead. Everyone except Hyun, and if she could fight right now he'd probably still prefer her over you._

But the other part of his mind wouldn't let him say no. It was screaming at him for being a coward, for being a weakling hiding in the infirmary while every one of his comrades went out and fought and died.

So instead he replied: "Just give the word, sir."

Bradford smiled. "You're a good soldier, Sergeant Valdez. As it is, we have a vital council mission and I need you to lead it. Head to the armory and gear up."

_What the hell had he just agreed to?_

He turned and met Hyun's gaze as he made his way out of the infirmary. She knew.

"Delta-2," Hyun spoke up suddenly as he was on his way out. "Come back alive."

* * *

Something was wrong, he knew something was very wrong.

Why was he remembering this? That wasn't now, that had happened hours ago, but he just couldn't remember why he was thinking about his promise to Hyun right now. Why was he going over that instead of what was going on in the present? What  _was_  he doing the present? Why was that important? Everything in his mind was a disconnected, muddled jumble of thoughts, just like that other time when he had been—

__**ALONE** _ _

He didn't want to remember, but the memories flooded back in a toxic, uncontrollable rush.

_One man stood alone in a deserted warehouse, surrounded by the dead._

_"Central, I think that's it. It's over."_

_But Delta-2 had thought wrong. He'd forgotten about the last one. The puppetmaster hiding in the shadows. The first alien controlling the German soldier Delta-3 had died trying to disarm. Then he'd heard the movement behind the crates, realised his mistake, tried to warn Central, but by then, it was too late._

_**MINE** _

_—the volley of red light flashed from his heavy laser and burned her into a husk at point blank range—_

_**PUPPET** _

_"...don't care what The Commander says, Erikssen deserved better, and that bastard just..."_

_**MURDERER** _

_The blood was everywhere. No matter how he tried, nothing seemed to work. Then a hand gripped his, and he paused his frantic efforts at staunching the wound to look into the eyes of the person he was trying to save._

_"No. Too late." The Commander coughed and struggled to stay alive for just a few more minutes. "Get through to Central. Need to..."_

_**USELESS** _

_"...no one needs to know about this part... that's an order—"_

__**COME BACK ALIVE** _ _

Valdez's eyes snapped open. He wished they had remained shut shortly after, because the first thing he saw was what was left of Private Murray.

_**DEAD** _

_They're all dead again. Did I kill them? No. Please, anything but that... I'd rather die. Please just let me die._

He was just so tired of it all. All he wanted was for it to end, to give in to the inevitable. But then a single thought suddenly broke through the swirl of nightmares that had all but overwhelmed him.

_**COWARD** _

_You promised Hyun you'd come back alive._

It was a hopeless promise, but he clutched at it with the desperation of a drowning man, and it brought him out of the crashing waves of terror and back in control. His instincts took over.

_**SURVIVE** _

Ears ringing, he tried to get back on his feet. He was covered with blood. Probably Murray's. Where was his gun?

He vaguely remembered that last moment now. Him, Sergeant Valdez, acting like he knew what he was doing, leading Murray to go to Zhang's aid. Then the grenade arced over the truck they'd been taking cover behind and landed with a clang. It had come out of nowhere— Murray hadn't noticed, not until it was too late, anyway. He didn't even get the chance to yell out a warning before the explosion reduced her into nothing recognisable as a human, and ignited the fuel tank of the truck.

He remembered little after that. The explosion for the truck must have knocked him out and there was his gun and oh...

There was a piece of shrapnel sticking out from his body armor. The metal shard must have belonged to the alien grenade, because the Carapace armour he wore was made of alien alloys and was almost impervious to normal frag grenades. This piece however, had almost punched right through the breastplate.

Actually, some of it had gotten through. Maybe some of that blood on him wasn't Murray's after all.

No pain. Which meant he was probably in shock. He gingerly touched the edge of protruding shard and fought down the impulse to yank it out. He was a medic and knew too well it was probably been the only thing keeping him from bleeding out at the present.

First things first. He sealed the wound with his medikit, shrapnel still embedded. He could worry about the infection and damage later. If he lived long enough for it be a problem, that was. A painkiller-stimulant injection cleared his mind further. He reached for his comm and was relieved to find his earpiece still miraculously in place.

Tap-tap. "Central, this is Strike-1. Come in, Central. Strike-4, come in."

No response. Valdez frowned and tried again. Still no response from anyone. It was then when he realised he could hear no sound at all even though the ringing in his ears had stopped. Which meant the explosion must have deafened him. Merde. He hoped the damage was temporary. If he couldn't hear enemies coming and he was in the middle of a battlefield then he was pretty much a dead man walking.

_If you want to keep your promise to Hyun, then the dead man had better start moving towards the Skyranger,_  a voice in his head told him. Since it was the only thing he could hear now, he picked up his heavy laser and obeyed.

"Central, Strike-4, if any of you can hear me, I'm making my way back to the extraction zone."

It was a long walk back, and a strangely deserted one. Where were Zhang and Jaitely? Was Kotsi still alive? The last communication Valdez remembered was the sniper saying he'd been poisoned. Thin Man poison... getting hit by it used to be a death sentence, but not anymore. Doctor Vahlen had already found a cure and incorporated a Thin Man antivenin module into the medikits. If Kotsi was still on the rooftop near the extraction zone, if Valdez could get to the sniper, he might still be able to save him.

A flash of green coming behind the same building Kotsi had been on caught his eye, and he cursed. Green meant plasma, which meant aliens.

The voice of Colonel Spencer suddenly came to mind:  _"When in doubt, take the high road."_  Good 'Ol Jack. He had always known what he was talking about.

A normal person in his condition really shouldn't have been able to climb up that fire-escape to the roof so quickly, but somehow, Valdez still made it up to the roof in what seemed like barely any time at all. He was greeted with the sight of a dead Thin Man. Next to the corpse lay an unmoving Private Kotsi.

Valdez staggered over and checked the sniper's pulse. A wave of hope rushed through him. Kotsi's pulse was weak and erratic, but it was there. That, and his medikit, was all he needed. There was no time to stop and watch the anti-venin take effect, however. Somewhere an alien was still firing on one of his squadmates. He'd failed Murray and even Guzman, but hell itself be damned if he was standing by and letting anyone else die on his watch.

As Kotsi had said earlier, the view from that rooftop really was excellent. He could see everything that was going on. The building opposite him was pock-marked with laser burns and the corpse of a single grey sectoid lay splattered on the concrete roof. He didn't have time to wonder what the spindly little egg-headed creature was doing there as several floors below him, Corporal Zhang and a man who could only be the VIP, appeared to be pinned down behind the burned out husk of a convoy truck at the base of the building.

That wasn't all. Lying out in the open, halfway to the truck, was the fallen figure of assault specialist Amit Jaitely. The side of his Carapace armor showed severe plasma scorches, but even as Valdez looked he saw the man's hand move and attempt to reach for his laser pistol.

Not dead then. But unless they finished this battle quickly, he would be soon.

Then Valdez saw what type of alien it was that was doing the firing and his blood froze. Green armor, purple skin... a seven-foot tall hulking brute with gorilla-like hands which dwarfed the plasma rifles they carried.

_Muton_.

If brave, stupid Jaitely tried plinking away at a goddamned Muton with that very inadequate laser pistol, he definitely would be dead sooner.

Valdez remembered all-too clearly the details of the first time they'd run into Mutons— in the Hong Kong mission where they'd extracted Zhang. While he hadn't been there he knew those things were tough, and it had taken the combined firepower of Colonel Spencer, then-Captain Henry Harris, and then-Lieutenant Mary Harris to bring one down. That had been with old-fashioned ballistic weapons of course. During their later invasion of the alien base, he'd encountered them too, but by then the Mutons there had gone down much more easily thanks to the introduction of XCOM's laser weaponry.

The same type of laser weaponry which he was currently in possession of.

No time to waste, so he put the heavy laser on full auto and opened fire. The beams from his weapon cut through the Muton's hulking frame in an angry red hailstorm. The alien brute roared in pain and whirled around, but the armour it wore bore the brunt of his attack, allowing it to stand its ground despite the sheer amount of firepower Valdez was raining down at it.

"Shoot it now!" Inwardly Valdez hoped his comm was working, and that the rookies would know what to do. If he couldn't drop that Muton before it could return fire...

A torrent of plasma spewed at his position. Cursing, Valdez rolled away from the edge of the building as the section he had been crouching at disintegrated entirely. This turned out to be a bad idea for someone with a piece of shrapnel lodged in his chest, and despite the painkillers, a stabbing lance of agony shot through him. He nearly blacked out again, but somehow he fought off the creeping black in his vision and clung on to consciousness.

As he lay there, gasping for breath, he suddenly became aware of the flashes of red laser fire coming from below.

_**MOVE!** _

He gritted his teeth, rolled over, and gripped his heavy laser again, then began crawling back to the edge. Cautiously, he peered over. The wounded Muton was crouched behind a pile of bricks further down, waiting for an opening. It definitely looked worse off— Zhang must have gotten in a hit before it had retreated for cover. On spotting movement, it began firing at Valdez's direction again, but Valdez's prone position presented a slim profile and the shots hit nothing.

Valdez returned fire, keeping the alien's attention on himself. If he could just get one good shot—

Then he noticed movement and saw Jaitely's hand fall back limply, dropping the pin from a spent frag grenade. For a moment Valdez wondered what happened to the grenade itself, but even before he finished the thought, the pile of bricks that was the Muton's cover shattered as the frag grenade exploded and the Muton caught in the blast finally died.

So Jaitely was down but not out.  _And still had a damn good throw left in him._

But it couldn't be over yet. Pessimistically, Valdez waited for more aliens to come and covered Zhang as he and the VIP had safely moved for the Skyranger. But though he was trapped in silence, he saw no movement as he scanned the surroundings. Nothing.

Finally, it sank in.

He would be keeping his promise to Hyun after all.

Tap-tap. "Central, this is Strike Team Actual. I think that's it." Valdez prayed he was right this time as a wave of deja vu washed over him. "It's over."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After Action Report:
> 
> OPERATION DEEP FUTURE  
> LYONS, FRANCE
> 
> Personnel Deployed in Mission:
> 
> Strike Squad
> 
> Strike-1: Sgt. Hector Valdez (Seriously Injured)  
> Strike-2: Private Andrea Murray (KIA)  
> Strike-3: Private Myron Guzman (KIA)  
> Strike-4: Corporal Shaojie Zhang  
> Strike-5: Private Akinawade Kotsi (Injured)  
> Strike-6: Private Amit Jaitely (Gravely Injured)
> 
> Recovered artifacts
> 
> Weapons fragments  
> Alien Alloys  
> Thin men corpse (11)  
> Muton corpse (1)  
> Sectoid corpse (1)
> 
> Assessment:
> 
> While Strike Team were not able to recover the missing truck from the convoy, they successfully extracted the survivor who once interrogated, should be able to provide us with information on what occurred, and how to locate it. More information should follow once the information extraction has been completed.

**Author's Note:**

> *Footnote: - Horatius, Lays of Ancient Rome by Thomas Babington Macaulay is currently in the public domain. The quoted verse in the opener is very likely the reason why the Base Defense mission is always called 'Operation Ashes and Temples' in-game.


End file.
